One of England's finest regional theatres, tucked just off Beaumont Street in central Oxford. The programme runs all year and the range is genuinely surprising: new writing one week, a touring ballet the next, stand-up comedy on a Saturday night.
The Playhouse has been at the centre of Oxford's cultural life since the 1930s, and it wears its history lightly. The auditorium is intimate enough that every seat feels close to the stage, yet large enough to attract serious touring productions. You'll find drama from the RSC and the National, visiting dance companies, family pantomime at Christmas, and a steady stream of comedians testing new material. The programming is genuinely eclectic, which makes it worth checking the schedule whenever you're planning a trip into town.
Next door is the Burton Taylor Studio, a smaller black-box space that hosts student productions and more experimental work. It's named after Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (Burton studied at Oxford), and the shows there can be brilliant. Combine an evening at the Playhouse with dinner on Walton Street or Jericho, and you have a proper night out. Oxford is about thirty minutes from the cottage, so you can be home before the fire goes out.
“We try to catch something at the Playhouse every couple of months. The building is lovely, the seats are comfortable, and you're never more than a few rows from the action.”
All of this on the doorstep, and your own thatched cottage to come home to. Sleeps seven, less than a mile from Soho Farmhouse.